Ironman Wisconsin
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Ironman Wisconsin - TriathlonFull Ironman
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Swim
Comments: I seeded myself inbetween the ski ramp and the red turn buoy. Everyone else seems to be at the ski ramp or at the buoy. It was a little thin right in between the two, so that's where I stuck myself. Second row, right behind a couple guys who looked like strong swimmers. My orignal plan was to hang on Schmize's ankles, but he got in the water ahead of me and I didn't know where he was. The cannon went off and sure enough the couple guys in front of me took off in a straight line, shooting the diagonal all the way to the first turn. I drafted off them really well, and got out ahead of most of the masses. Made the turn and was in good shape for the rest of the swim. A little bit of jostling, but not too bad. I had 2 guys who could not swim straight at all, and kept bumping me from the side. They really wanted to veer off course, so I obliged and let them. I just kept moving from feet to feet as I'd lose the ones I was on occasionally. I felt controlled the whole swim. I just kept focus on keeping good form. I purposely don't swim with a stopwatch or garmin, as I don't want to be focused on time for the swim, but on execution. What would you do differently?: CdA: 1:07:09 Moo: 1:04:53 Not much. My best IM swim to date, and it felt pretty good. I got a bit warm on the second loop. I might consider going sleeveless for this race in the future. The full suit is faster, but not at the expense of overheating yourself before you even hit T1. Transition 1
Comments: Onto the ramp and dropped at the first strippers I saw. ***YANK*** and the suit was off. Awesome. Still had goggles/cap on, so I took those off as I was grabbing my wetsuit. Then jogged up the helix. It felt like a jog, but was probably a lot more of a run. I didn't get short of breath, but I wasn't walking slowly either. Comfortably fast. The crowd was awesome. I somehow heard a few people call out my name in all the noise. It was wall to wall people the whole distance from the swim exit to the entrance to T1. Got into T1, and the volunteer couldn't find my bag. I knew where it was, so I just grabbed it and went on my way into the change room. Got my stuff ready to ride while the extremely helpful volunteer put my wetsuit and cap into my empty T1 bag. I got on my socks and bike shoes. I lubed up with a big glob of DZ NUTS. Put on helmet, volunteer handed my my sunglasses, I grabbed my gloves and was out the door. Ran to my bike, and I couldn't find it right away. Not used to looking for a fast RED bike, and my brain was a little scrambled. What would you do differently?: CdA: 5:44 Moo: 6:56 (but long run up helix) Not much, it's slow for everyone because of the run up the helix. Could probably get a little bit faster getting stuff together. I had a pretty long run to my bike, so I'd probably run in my socks next time and carry my shoes. I saw a couple people doing that, and they were moving faster than I was. Bike
Comments: Nutrition plan: Loop 1: 3 bottles Infinit (900 cals) 3 Gu Roctane gels (300 cals) Total cals 1200 Loop 2: 3 bottles Infinit (900 cals) 2 Gu Roctane gels (200 cals) Total cals 1100 (2300 for the whole bike) Started out feeling good. Passed by running2far on my way out on John Nolen. He's got the new Rudy aerohelmet, which looks like a pretty nice deal. I took a couple sips from my first bottle as we headed out of town. This was good, as the damn bottle bounced out of my cage going over a big honkin' bump in the road. This was a narrow section of the course, so stopping was not an option (without causing a big pile up for everyone behind me). The bottle rolled off to the side, so it was out of the roadway at least. Dangit! Nutrition plan already out the window. I didn't panic because I knew I could grab water and Powergels to make up the missing calories, plus I had an extra Roctane in my gel flask with me. ( Part of the be ready to adapt strategy! ) The first loop was mostly uneventful. I knew Schmize was up the road, but knew that I was unlikely to see him again until the run. Didn't see or pass anyone else that I knew. David Clough came by me about the middle of this loop. I let him go, and just raced my race. It was getting warm by the time we hit the climbs, and it was still pretty early. I was getting a little worried about that, but just picked up water at the handups and kept pouring it over me to stay wet and cool. Didn't see any packs, but this course is not one that accomodates drafting, as you are constantly making speed changes due to rollers, descents, turns, etc. It was obvious on the hills who was riding with power and who wasn't. I had numerous people blow past me out of the saddle on the climbs, only to sit and coast the backside of the hills. I kept my watts capped on the climbs, and then kept them coming on the backsides, and repassed nearly everyone who "out climbed" me. Much more even effort distribution with a powermeter. The 'Vegas' theme at the CrossPlains aid station was fun. Tuxedos and showgirls. Excellent! :) The climbs were all not as bad as I thought they would be. I just put it in the 27 both times and kept the watts on the bubble. Felt like I was able to hold a conversation up the climbs, which was what I wanted. No need to blow the legs out for a few seconds of glory. Plus I kept the watts on and picked people off who climbed faster as I pushed speed back up on the back side. Came through Verona to start the second loop. Stopped at special needs to grab my stuff. Just 3 bottle to start back off. Didn't trust my aerobar cage to hold the bottle after the earlier bounce out, so I jammed that one into my jersey pocket and hit the road again. More people hammering up the hills, and it was definitely getting hotter at this point. I was drying off between aid stations, despite dumping entire bottles over me. Kept up the nutrition plan, and kept things rolling. I faded a little in the heat, but figured I was doing okay. I wasn't passing a ton of people, but neither were a lot of people passing me. Holding my own was an okay place to be. I felt pretty good energy-wise and nutrition-wise. I got down all my Infinit and gels, and picked up a gel from the course so the loss of the bottle early on didn't impact my caloric intake. The new bike worked great, as did the 808's. I really like my bike setup, just need to work on the engine a bit more. My disaster plan was: 1 tufo s3-lite rolled up super tight and jammed in behind the saddle 1 cannister PitStop 2xCO2 shots In special needs: 1 old tubular I pulled off an old wheel 2 co2 shots 1 vittoria pitstop Thankfully, I didn't need any of them. :) What would you do differently?: CdA: 5:51:57 Moo: 5:43:18 I definitely improved over CdA. Conditions helped, in not being very windy for us most of the day. I should use a different cage for my aerobar bottle. I launched a bottle from it at Racine previously. I should have changed it then. It's a plastic Profile cage, so a bit flexier than a stiff carbon one would be. I could have taken in more salt I think, as it was getting hot. I have a good amount of sodium from my Infinit, but I think I may have needed more. Transition 2
Comments: Up the helix! Fumbled slightly getting the Garmin 310 off the bike, but I had it in a different spot than I was used to due to the new bike 2 days before the race. Got into the Terrace, grabbed my bag then into the change area. My T2 was pretty simple: -Helmet off, bike shoes off, socks off. -New socks on, running shoes on, adjust laces+lace lock to be on right -Spray arms/neck/shoulders with sunscreen (SPF 50) -Grab visor and ziplock baggie with all my stuff (gu chomps, a gel, salt tabs, tube of neosporin, gel flask with Infinit concentrate). As I ran out of transition, I took stuff out of the ziplock and got it stored in various pockets. That's definitely a good trick to get a faster transition. What would you do differently?: CdA: 4:31 Moo: 4:44 Might look into getting the bike mount for the 310. Still probably only added a few seconds, just felt like an eternity. Run
Comments: I came out of T2 at the same time that the lead pros were finishing their first loop of the run. That was pretty special. I ended up running down State street almost side by side with Chris MacDonald. I resisted the urge to try and match his pace. The crowd was going nuts cheering, so it was really really cool. I checked my Garmin, and noticed I was running about 7:30 pace, which was too fast for opening the marathon. I dialed it back to about 8:00 pace. Made it through the first aid station with only a brief pause to take on fluids. I was good through about 3 miles, holding around an 8:00 average. Then my stomach/body started getting rough. I took in some water and mixed in some Infinit at the 3rd aid station, and as soon as I started running again I burped/puked most of it right back up. I was getting pretty warm at this point, as it was the hottest part of the day, and no shade on the course. About this point too, Chris MacDonald came backwards. He blew up and melted down. I came up behind him, and offered him some encouragement "hang tough man! you can rally back!". He said "I'm completely blown". He hang next to me for a little bit, then he stopped to walk for a bit and I kept on moving. Pretty humbling to me, to have a front row seat at a top pro blowing up, realizing that they are just like us, and have good days and bad ones. I kept on plugging away though I had to slow down more at aid stations to make sure I was keeping down the fluids and calories. I realized that this was going to be a tough day, and my goal switch from keeping 8's to trying to keep under 10's. I was having to walk the aid stations and start slowly in order to keep fluids down. My legs could go faster, but if I started puking, then my race would have not lasted much longer. I came across Birkie about mile 6 or 7? Just before Observatory. Ran with him for a little bit after we walked up Observatory ( no sense in running it ). Another guy joined us, and we made a little group of 3 running shoulder to shoulder and keeping each other rolling for about the next mile or 2. Helped to have company, so thanks to Birkie and the other racer for keeping me going, and hopefully I helped you guys too. We split apart after a little while, as we all suffering pretty hard. Chris MacDonald apparently took my advice, and regrouped a bit and rallied back, as he came back past me about mile 9 or 10'ish and ended up hanging on for 5th place overall. That gave me hope of making a similar rally of my own. Made it through the first loop in a bit over 2 hours. Then it really got tough. I tried doing math ( which you absolutely cannot do at this point in an IM, so I should know better than to try ) to figure out my chances of still being able to squeek under 11. I thought I had a shot, so I tried to keep the walking to a minimum on the second loop. I came across Amyjotris, and ran with her for a bit as we came through Camp Randall. Going up the out and back on State Street the second time I was pretty close to delerious. Some friends were up, and they yelled at me and cheered for me, and I barely even noticed them. I tried to wave or yell back, but I don't think I did much more than grunt and drool on myself a bit. Saw Laura's sister and brother-in-law Jim on the course, and they were cheering for me too. It really helped to keep seeing people that I knew, as that helped me keep going. The crowd support was great too. Much more crowd support along the whole course than at CdA, since it goes through the middle of Madison almost the whole way. I did my best to say thank you to the volunteers and the police. As is said, what you give out, you get back multiplied. It's definitely true. The volunteers were great at the aid stations. I finally peed about mile 18. I was worried that I was super dehydrated, but I was slamming back 2-3 waters or cokes or broth at every aid station. I was taking endurolytes like candy too. At mile 22 I stopped to hit a porto-potty to *ahem* lighten the load a bit. Heh. Felt better after that. I think that's about the same distance into the race that I had to stop in CdA too. Didn't take too long, but getting the legs going again afterwards was tough. I managed to get things cooking again though. The last stretch was kind of a foggy blur, as I was focusing really hard to get to the finish while it was still daylight ( that had become my new goal ). At about mile 25 I saw a green/yellow jersey ahead of me. Then I recongnized the bouncy hair sticking out of the visor and realized it was Laura! I ran up behind her and tapped her left shoulder and moved to her right. Hehehehe. Said hi and wished her well. Got a quick kiss in, then decided I was feeling better and was going to make a push in the last mile to the finish. So I took off ( well, comparatively speaking, I "took off", a fast moving banana slug would have probably beat me ). Making the last climb up State street and around the capitol was hard. Legs just wanted to stop, but I made them keep going until the finish. The crowd was big here, and I was determined not to walk in front of it. Coming around the last corner, and being able to move to the right side of the street where the sign says "To Finish" was a great feeling. Mentally, I was rallied back a bit, and felt quasi human. Coming down the chute there wasn't anyone behind me. I raised my arms and crossed the line. Mile Time Ahr 1 7:49 147 2 8:06 150 3 8:24 149 4 8:30 149 5 8:48 144 6 9:58 138 7 9:28 138 8 9:55 132 9 10:30 128 10 9:54 132 11 10:05 133 12 9:52 134 13 10:18 133 14 11:23 126 (stopped at special needs) 15 10:37 129 16 13:08 121 (ugh, walking) 17 10:09 130 (running again!) 18 11:56 122 (stopped to pee!) 19 12:45 122 20 11:12 126 (pushed through, back to running) 21 12:36 120 22 15:11 119 (stopped to hit porto-potty) 23 11:23 126 (smelling the barn, plus a little lighter) 24 10:11 133 25 10:28 132 (stopped to kiss Whizzzzz) 26 10:27 131 (state street is really steep! :P) .2 1:45 What would you do differently?: CdA: 4:14:40 Moo: 4:34:29 Heat adapt? It's a roll of the dice what weather is going to be on race day. Today, it chose to be ~20 degrees warmer than the average for the last 4 weeks before the race. I can run ok in the heat, but I need to train for it and in it. The weather leading up to the race didn't allow for that. Could have artificially made it hot by training in long pants and long sleeves, but that sacrifices some of the 'quality' of the workouts. We draw our cards and we take our chances. :) Post race
Warm down: Get my chip removed. I was unable to speak for a few seconds after. The volunteers were asking me if I was okay. I was trying to say yes, but my mouth was not functional. Finally I got it out. Since I was standing okay on my own, and able to talk, they let me start moving through the finish area. I pounded down a couple cups of broth. Ahhh, that stuff is miraculous. Got some bottles of water too. I knew I needed to re-hydrate so that become my mission. I saw Trixie in the finish area too!!! That was cool. I got my finishers picture taken, then finally made my way out of the finish area to see friends. Steve- was there. As was Scott and Brett. Hung around with them for a little bit trying to recover myself and rehydrate. At that point, I decided I had to get moving, since I need to get my bike and transition stuff, and get back to the hotel, ice bath, shower, stuff my face a bit, and make it back to the finish line to watch Laura. I hobbled over to transition and managed to get all my stuff. Got to the hotel and started the ice bath. OMG. That was the most horrid ice bath I've ever taken. I got in, and I started shaking uncontrollably. I managed to sit for a bit, and then tried to get out, and found that I could barely move! Yikes! Bizzare headlines "Triathlete found frozen in bathtub" flashed through my head. Managed to get myself extracated, and then took a bit a of a warm shower to loosen back up. That did the trick. I ate some food, packed a bag of clothes for Laura for after the race, and caught the shuttle back over to the finishline. Woohoo! What a day! Saw Laura finish, as well as many other BTers. Bob Stocks and Trixie got me into the VIP area, so I was able to watch and wait for Laura from the platform right at the finish arch. Had a nice view of the chute from there, and then when she did come in, I was able to go down into the finish area and help her out. Yay! Bob and Trixie are awesome people. Thanks so much to them for helping me make sure I was able to catch Laura's finish. :) We then all stuck around until the midnight finishers came in, then we drug our exhausted bodies back to the hotel and finally, after a looooooooong loooooong loooong day, we passed out. I can't wait to do this again. :) What limited your ability to perform faster: Heat. Heat. Heat. And lack of heat adaption. If you're not heat adapted there's really no magic pill you can take on race day to fix it. Last updated: 2009-01-13 12:00 AM
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General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
Ironman North America
80F / 27C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 371/2397
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 52/260
Short pre-race story:
I had a 2007 Felt B2. On Thursday, they day I came up to Madison, I came back from a last ride before packing the car, and the metal seat clamp fractured where it is bonded to the carbon frame. There was no longer anything holding the seat to the frame. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Panic mode set in. I made a few phone calls to bike shops in Madison, and found one that was a Felt dealer. Machinery Row bikes. I got up to Madison about 2pm and got the bike into the shop there. They were EXTREMELY helpful. I cannot express my thanks enough to them. They worked with Felt, who also is deserving of some huge accolades, and a new 2010 B2 frame was overnighted from California to Madison. Machinery Row transferred all my components over to the new frame on Friday, and I picked up the shiny new bike Friday after the Athlete's Dinner.
A quick spin on Saturday morning to make sure it all worked and shifting was good. Rode with Bryan(MNDiver), Laura(Whizzzzzz), and Craig(FirstNet911). It felt great. I was soooo happy that it all got worked out. I was on the verge of contemplating doing the race on my road bike. I was also swamped with offers from so many people who offered up their own bikes(if they weren't racing) or spare bikes. Such an awesome sport and sense of community. Hopefully none of you are ever in a position that I need to return the favor, but if you are, I am in all your debt.
So, after the frantic Thursday and Friday, a low key dinner the night before the race.
Pre-race carb load after dinner/during the night of 'bagels + rice milk + 2 non-caffeinated gels'. Consumed most between 10pm and 4am.
Woke up at 4AM on race morning. Had some good coffee, another bagel, a clif bar. Grabbed my bags and headed out with Whizzzzzz to catch the shuttle to the race site!
Once we got there, dropped off our s/n bags. Thankfully Laura remembered that was up by the capital, not at Monona. I forgot that detail! :)
Made our way to Monona and put my 3 bottles of Infinit on the bike. I setup my Garmin 310 on the bike, so it was already there when I hit T1. Didn't need to swim with it on. Topped off air in the tires to 110 psi.
Left some extra watts in 'running2far's bento box. ;)
Warmup turned out to be a frantic rush through the masses to get through the narrow swim entrance to get to Whizzzzzz. In the walk down the helix, we got separated and she ended up on the other side of the wall from me. Finally got to see her with about 5 minutes to spare. A quick hug and goodluck kiss and then we got in the water to start the day!